{"id":683,"date":"2014-09-14T07:45:39","date_gmt":"2014-09-13T23:45:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zombifiedpixie.com\/?p=683"},"modified":"2015-04-30T14:17:36","modified_gmt":"2015-04-30T06:17:36","slug":"op-ed-an-open-letter-to-scottish-voters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zombifiedpixie.com\/?p=683","title":{"rendered":"OP-ED: An Open Letter to Scottish Voters …"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Image\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Will the vote for Scottish independence unleash a tsunami of unexpected and uncontrollable forces rippling across the global theatre in the same way the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo did in the last century? \u00a0It may sound absurd to compare the cataclysmic ramifications of this assassination with a simple gesture to voice a desire to live in an independent country. \u00a0But in this highly globalised and interconnected world, \u00a0a vote for Scottish independence would be used by a spectrum of political entities to endorse, justify and amplify waves of nationalism throughout the global stage which in turn will destabilise the West at the time unity and cooperation are most needed. \u00a0 A fragile West will only encourage the imperialist appetite of not just Russia but also China.<\/p>\n

If the YES vote prevails, many assume that the divorce will be amicable. \u00a0Sadly, I think not. \u00a0The Scottish referendum has not only stirred the sovereign will of the Scottish people, but, it has also stirred the sovereign will of the English people. \u00a0The juvenile and sarky comments by Alex Salmond about the national debt (“What are the Brits going to do? \u00a0Invade?) has deeply angered many mild-mannered English and as such the path of acrimony is newly paved. \u00a0For example, the 18+ months to negotiate the split is a timetable proposed by Scottish interests \u00a0— it has not been agreed to or endorsed by the Unionists. \u00a0As such, the balance of power over the negotiation of the divorce settlement will shift in favour of the British. \u00a0If Britain so decides, then she can make this separation as painful as possible. \u00a0Although this undermines the national interests of both countries, the political fervour and sovereign will of the English will demand deeply punitive penalties against Scotland.<\/p>\n

The first casualty will obviously be Scotland.<\/p>\n

The second\u00a0casualty will be a national shift away from the current mainstream leaders and towards the more nationalistic\u00a0and\u00a0untested (and therefore dangerous) UKIP. \u00a0 As a result, the UK will likely ‘devolve’ or exit from the EU.<\/p>\n

The third\u00a0casualty will be\u00a0the infrastructure, treaties and alliances that the West has steadfastly built during the\u00a0Cold War and post-Cold War eras. \u00a0A distracted Britain and the inexperience of UKIP on the global stage will undermine NATO, the World Bank, the IMF, the EU and many other entities.<\/p>\n

The fourth\u00a0casualty will be the stability in Western Europe and the Balkans as regional nationalists will be emboldened by the Scottish vote.<\/p>\n

A destabilised Western Europe is an ineffective counterbalance to the ongoing ISIS-jihadist threats, the new Putin-machismo territorial expansion, and the Chinese imperialistic desire over the South China Seas.<\/p>\n

In short, the Scottish vote may be the thin edge of the wedge that ripples across the political ocean in unexpected ways. \u00a0The lurch towards nationalism and the weakened West could be the ignition that sets off the global firestorm.<\/p>\n

It is right that each person should have the right to decide the fate of their future and the legitimacy of the Scottish referendum is unquestioned. \u00a0It is my hope\u00a0that the Scottish voters will pull back from the abyss and vote against independence because IT IS IN THEIR INTERESTS to remain within the Union. \u00a0A strong UK is in their interests and in the world’s interests.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Will the vote for Scottish independence unleash a tsunami of unexpected and uncontrollable forces rippling across the global theatre in the same way the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo did in the last century? \u00a0It may sound absurd to compare the cataclysmic ramifications of this assassination with a simple gesture to voice … Continue reading OP-ED: An Open Letter to Scottish Voters …<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[96],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinionated-pixie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zombifiedpixie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zombifiedpixie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zombifiedpixie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zombifiedpixie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zombifiedpixie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=683"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.zombifiedpixie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":698,"href":"https:\/\/www.zombifiedpixie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683\/revisions\/698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zombifiedpixie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zombifiedpixie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zombifiedpixie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}